1. Field
The present invention relates to compression and/or decompression of a data set using significance mapping.
2. Background Information
As is well-known, compression and decompression of data signals is employed in a variety of circumstances. Vector quantization is a well-known technique to achieve high performance signal compression. For example, although the invention is not limited in scope in this respect, it may be desirable to compress video signals, such as an image, a sequence of images, audio signals, or any combination thereof. Compression may typically be employed for purposes of storage or in order to transmit signals over a limited bandwidth communication link, although the invention is not limited in scope in this respect.
Many forms of compression suffers from several disadvantages. For example, compression is typically computationally complex. Therefore, compression techniques that are less computationally complex are sometimes desirable. Likewise, compression is not typically adaptable to achieve a particular bit rate, as may be desirable in some circumstances, such as where transmission is taking place over a limited bandwidth communications link, for example. Therefore, a need exists for compression techniques that address these shortcomings.